For The Kingdom
by crappyfriend
Summary: Jaune takes a different path in his life to become a hero. Joining the militia to defend the kingdom from threats like the grimm, bandits and terrorists will be his new duty. He just has to survive basic training first.
1. Chapter 1

In the Arc household, the parents of Jaune Arc could only look shocked at what they just heard.

"You want to join the military?!" Was the first thing his mother said after an uncomfortable amount of time.

"I'm technically joining the militia and-" His words were interrupted by his dad.

"That's not the part that matters, why would you-" He frowned. "Wasn't your dream to become a huntsman, did something change?" The question only brought bitter memories and Jaune couldn't help the harsh tone that he spoke in.

He didn't want to either.

"It's a little hard to fulfil a dream like that without any training. Especially, when you said no to it every time I asked." He almost shouted.

His dad looked guilty at that, which surprised Jaune, he had never seen him with that expression before. When his dad didn't say anything and only sat there with a thoughtful frown, it left it to his mom to continue the conversation.

"How did you come to your decision then?" She had calmed down from the outburst and sounded curious.

"It was Garnet Wander from the other side of the village. You might not have met her." Usually, in a town like theirs, one has at some point met everyone in the village. But her place was rundown and isolated, he wouldn't even have met her if it wasn't for a change on his jogging route.

Garnet was blunt and wasn't the most pleasant to talk to at first. She didn't leave the best first impression either when he stopped for a talk, as she wondered why he came here. Literally, laughed the instant Jaune said what the training was for.

He would have gotten angry if it wasn't for the spar she invited him for which made him more confused then angry. He accepted the challenge without much thought and had plans to go as easy as possible on her. Garnet was old enough to have grey hair with a few streaks of red and a prosthetic arm.

Jaune had started to have second thoughts by the time the spar started, his only thought that he might get arrested for assault. Too occupied to notice how sloppy his stance was compared to hers, how her eyes analyzed every part of him and the muscles that could now be seen as she flexed them.

The instant the spar started she had already gone on the attack. Every attack she threw either hit their mark or was sloppily blocked and ended up damaging anyway. He wasn't sure how long the battle lasted, but before he knew it he was on the ground. Jaune was sore and exhausted.

When he looked up to Garnet he was surprised once again, she was exhausted and could barely stand. He ignored his own pain to catch her when she collapsed.

He put her carefully down and was about to call for help, but was stopped by a stronger grip than one would expect for someone that just collapsed. Garnet made him carry her inside her house instead and Jaune was surprised for the third time by what he saw inside.

The small house was crammed full of awards, pictures of people in uniform and a sword eerily similar to his dad's weapon hung up on a wall. He put her down on the chair she pointed to and simply observed the room.

Garnet had started to tell a story while she made herself comfortable.

About the Vale militia and it's many victories.

How it defended the Kingdom of Vale from the grimm long before the huntsmen academies were founded. That they stood and fought against any threats that threatened it's people. She told him stories until she eventually stopped, fallen asleep after too much activity the doctor that he went to get after it happened told him.

He hadn't thought that he would go there again after an encounter like that, but he found his feet had moved in that direction the next day on his jogging route. He had asked if he could hear more stories about the Vale militia and to his surprise, she agreed.

The stories would sometimes start and end at weird points as if she didn't quite remember at what point a memory began or finished. They could be told from a broad perspective or a personal one. Chronologically one day or only the big moments another day.

Before he knew it he had already listened to her stories for two months and his dreams had changed.

He started to train so that he could one day join the Vale militia instead of the far off dream of a huntsman. Garnet even helped him to get in shape, eventually, after he begged for it. He got in shape and it's only now that Garnet had deemed him decent enough to join the militia and had even offered to write a recommendation letter for him.

Their relationship had improved too. Jaune wouldn't call them friend, they were a long way from that, but they were at the point where they could have a polite conversation.

That why Jaune had finally decided to tell his parents about his new dream and the one that made him realize it. The murderous face on his mom's face stopped him, though, and he wasn't sure of what to say about the colourful language she used to describe Garnet.

"Garnet Wander! What did that racist cun-" His dad silenced her with his hands before she could continue.

"Calm down dear. Remember your breathing exercises." She glared at his dad for a second before she reluctantly started to do it.

Jaune had never seen her that angry before and was confused about what angered her.

"Mom, why did you get so angry?"

His mom was still in the process of calming down so it was his dad who answered for her.

"They have some bad history." He sighed. "Maybe we should continue this conversation tomorrow when everyone is calmer."

Jaune nodded. He needed some time to think about what he wanted to say. They said goodnight to each other and went to their rooms.

Hopefully, they won't try to stop him, he had planned to leave within the week and had no plans to not go through with it.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day didn't go the way Jaune would have expected.

He felt the gun that his dad has given him once they had reached the clearing and couldn't help to be confused. Jaune thought that today would feature a long conversation with his parents, one that might get emotional because of the topic.

Instead, he's dragged to outside the town before breakfast and given a gun. What his dad wanted him to do with it didn't make it easier to understand what was going on.

"Are you going to shoot me or not son? We can't start the talk before you do." His dad asked him for the third time.

Jaune had no answer. He had never used a gun before and he didn't want his first to involve his dad getting shot. What if he got hurt?

His dad must have seen his hesitation as he sighed before he walked over and took the gun.

"I guess letting you learn the same way I learned from dad was a little too much." He scratched the back of his head before he pointed the muzzle at his hand. "Should have done it this way from the start."

Before Jaune could comprehend what his dad was about to do it was too late, he had pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Jaune took his hand to check for a wound and try to understand why he would do that only to find nothing. There was no wound, blood or even a bruise. The only thing in his dad's hand was a flattened bullet.

"What?" He was openly gaping his mouth at this point.

"I had the exact same reaction when my dad did it to me." He laughed, he literally laughed. "I was six at the time so that might be why. But that you have this kinda reaction makes me realize that I might have gone too far in trying to protect you." He took a deep breath and released it in a long breath.

"Son, do you know what a huntsman is?" The question confused him as it's a question everybody knows the answer to. It would have been embarrassing if he didn't since his dad was one.

"A huntsman is a skilled warrior who protects the people from the Grimm, only a select few are strong enough to become one." Jaune had heard many ways to describe what a huntsman was but one only needs to know two things about them.

That they kill the Grimm and are the strongest.

"That is basically it, but there is an important detail that I have not told you about how they can do those things. It's aura and it works like a forcefield and strengthens the body to make it simple. That why the bullet didn't leave any wounds."

Jaune felt like he understood the stories his dad would tell him a lot better now. All the times he thought he exaggerated became a lot more believable with aura. It also made him understand one of the reasons his dad didn't want to train him.

"Is that why you didn't want to train me because I don't have an aura?"

"No, anyone can use aura. It wouldn't take longer than a few seconds for me to unlock it for you."

"What, you could have unlocked it all these years and it's only now you decide to tell me!" Jaune yelled with anger that surprised both his father and him.

He had thought that he was simply too weak and that his dream might never be reached no matter how hard he tried. That he was denied any training because his father didn't think he was good enough.

Now Jaune'stold that he could have done it at any time but for some reason, he didn't.

"Jaune, please calm down. I know you might be ups-"

"Of course I am! What was the reason you didn't then? Was I too weak, stupid or was it because I wasn't important enough as I was born last."

"Enough!" His dad yelled and that shocked Jaune, he rarely raised his voice. "I'm sorry for raising my voice there, but I don't want you to ever think that would be the reason. You're my son and that means you will never stop being important to me. The reason is hard to explain."

"Then try." Jaune had calmed down a little, but he was still angry at what he had been told.

"My father, your grandfather was a good man who loved his family and would do anything to protect them. He was a great man, but he had his faults too." He sighed as he recited words as if he had heard them a thousand times before. "It's the duty of every Arc to protect the people with their shield and use their sword to cut down their enemies. It was an oath he lived and died by."

"He wanted his kids to hold the same ideals as him and my brothers and sisters had nothing against doing that. I had other dreams, though, dreams that I was eventually forced to abandon because of the pressure from the rest of my family. I never really had a choice in what I wanted to become when I grew up and promised to give my children a choice to become whatever they wanted to be."

His father sighed and seemed to age ten years as he prepared for what he said next.

"Seven daughters, all wanting nothing to do with the huntsman life and the first son we have wants nothing else. I thought that all the stories I told you as a kid had made you feel like you had to live up to the family legacy and had no choice. It was only after a long overdue discussion with your mother last night that I realized that I was doing the same thing to you that was done to me."

No more words came after that and Jaune took it at his turn to talk.

"I understand why you did it now, but it doesn't change that it has already happened and we can't change that. Can we change the topic, for now, I need some time to think." He was unsure about who he was supposed to be angry towards at this point. Jaune needed time to properly understand everything that he was told. It was a lot of information to take in.

"I understand. We can move on to the second reason we went out here and I hope you will give me time to explain why I ask you this now." Twelve words that Jaune had long given up on ever being uttered was heard. "Jaune, would you like for me to train you as a huntsman?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Jaune, would you like for me to train you as a huntsman?" His dad asked. It was something he had waited years for him to say and he wouldn't have hesitated to answer yes normally.

But now that the moment was finally here the answer was different.

"No, I don't want that. Besides the fact that the militia doesn't accept people with aura, why would you ask me this now? After so many years of rejection and you only ask me when I no longer want that!" He yelled the last part which made his dad recoil out of surprise, understandable since this was the first time he had ever been angry with him.

Jaune was surprised by the outburst too as he hadn't thought he was that angry.

"Jaune..." His dad took a few seconds to collect himself before he continued. "I didn't realize I had hurt you this much as I only wanted to keep you safe. Maybe I wasn't too different from my father after all." Jaune had never seen him look as defeated as he did when he said that.

"What would have happened if said yes anyway? Isn't it too late for me at this point?"

"It would have taken longer than you would have liked as it would have taken years before I would consider you good enough to take a huntsman license. And there is also your body we would have to think about."

Jaune didn't know what his dad meant by that. He wasn't muscular, but the advice and the secret training he had done had made him quite fit.

"What do you mean? I don't even have a noodle body anymore, at worst it could be considered an uncooked noodle." He then realized what he said. "Please forget that. I don't know what I was trying to say."

Why did he have to say something like that in this kind of talk? An uncooked noodle feels like a downgrade since they break so easily. The only good thing was that it cheered his dad up a little. A small smile was on his face before it disappeared.

"When I say that aura strengthens the body I mean it quite literally. Doing an exercise when one has aura will give you much better results than if one did it without. It slowly strengthens the body over time as well, making it tougher and stronger even if one doesn't train."

So the younger one was when they started their training with an unlocked aura the stronger one had the potential to become? Jaune was fifteen now, but he had heard that combat schools take in people much younger than him. His previous goal to become a huntsman was so that he could honour his legacy, not to be the strongest so it wasn't too much of a loss to know that.

The fact that he would have to wait years to become an actual huntsman when he could join the militia now made it obvious what he would pick.

"Are you absolutely sure this is the path you want to walk?"

"Yes." He answered without hesitation.

"I won't stop you then, but could you at the very least take this with you?" He took Crocea Mors out of his belt and held it out towards him.

Jaune hesitantly accepted it but was quickly overwhelmed by its weight. It would have fallen on the ground if he wasn't already prepared for it to be heavy, just not this heavy. It feels like it should be twice as heavy with how much it weighs.

"Forgot about that." His dad ruffled his hair in embarrassment. "I have been using it for so long that I forgot how unexpectedly heavy it was."

Its weight would make it hard to use as a weapon for now. He wished he had focused a little more on strength than he did, maybe he would have been able to actually hold the sword in one hand. Instead, he had to use both of them if he wanted to hold it comfortably.

He took the sword out of its sheat and admired the nicks and scratches on it.

"Are you really giving it to me?"

"Yes, I know that it's too late to support your dream of becoming a huntsman and I regret that. I want to at least try my best at supporting you now if you accept my help that is?"

Jaune felt confused. He was happy that his dad had finally accepted that he could become what he wanted. That he wasn't denied training because he wasn't worth it. But the anger and sadness he felt caused by all the years of rejection wouldn't go away instantly.

He couldn't forgive his dad yet for that, but he would try to.

"Thank you for giving the sword to me and it's nice that you want to help me and stuff." An awkward smile and his eyes not very subtly averted from his were a clear indication that what he had to say next was something he would rather not. "I was kinda planning to leave tonight."

He was met with utter silence.

When it lasted longer than a few seconds he looked back to his dad only to be met with a face frozen in shock. His dad tried to say something but took a deep breath instead. His second try was met with more success as he was able to utter his name before another deep breath was taken. It was at his third try that he was successful.

"Did you plan to do this even if we hadn't approved of this. How did you even plan to get there?"

"I was going to hitch a ride with the caravan." The caravan would be slow as it would need to stop at several villages along the way for both trade and protection. It would take it weeks before it reached his destination, but it was the fastest way for him to leave without anyone noticing.

"Of course you were." He sighed. "What is the name of the place you needed to travel to?"

"Alder." It was the same place that Garnet trained.

"I know where that is. I have been in the area for a few missions before. Would it be okay for you if I escorted you there instead? You would have to wait a few days since I have to prepare supplies, but I could easily get you there in half the time it would take for the caravan to get there."

"Sure, a trip with you beats sitting on a wagon for weeks with nothing to do." He was thankful that his dad didn't get as angry as he thought he would. That he offered to take him there left a good feeling in his chest.

"Of course that means that you have time to tell the rest of the family about this." Jaune shivered out of fear at what he would have to face once he told his sisters about this. 

The caravan suddenly sounded like the much better choice.


	4. Chapter 4

The talk with the rest of his family went surprisingly well.

Dad took care of mom so he only had to worry about his sisters who were a lot more supportive of his new dream. Whenever he would talk about how he would one day become a huntsman they would always pat his head and then go on about their day. It hurt a little when they did that as it felt like they simply didn't believe in him and thought that he would soon forget about that.

They didn't say much in support this time either, but they didn't act like he wouldn't become one at least. Especially when his dad came in later and told the rest that we're going to leave in two days.

It got hectic after that as each of his sisters started to make plans to spend time with him before he left.

Saphron was, of course, absent from that discussion as she was in Argus. She could only stare longingly as the rest of his sister had already started to make room in the living room for a sleepover. One that would include the entire family.

The twins had somehow left without his notice which made him feel a small amount of dread. It was never a good thing when they disappeared.

He managed to get away from them after a while as he still had to take care of something before it got too dark. It was late in the afternoon and he wanted to talk with Garnet before she went to bed. He made his way to the outskirts of the village as he greeted some of the people he knew on the way.

It wasn't long until he made it to her small cottage built as close to the village walls as possible and knocked on the door. The door opened a minute later and he was met by Garnets who looked surpised too see him.

Which made sense, he was supposed to have left already with the caravan.

"Hey Garnet, you probably didn't expect to see me."

"Weren't you going to leave tonight or did your father find out about your plans?" She pointed behind him. "Don't say I'm going to get one of your parents walking around the corner any second."

"No, nothing like that. Dad actually agreed to it and he's planning to take me there himself."

"Nicholas actually said yes? Wouldn't think that I would see the day, but was that all you came here to tell me."

"I also had some questions about aura that my dad talked about. My dad said that everyone could have an aura, but then you tell me that those in the militia aren't allowed to. Why can't the militia use have that but huntsmen can?" It was something he wondered about ever since he was told.

With how strong aura was then it would only be a good thing to have as many people as possible with aura.

"That's a little complicated." She sighed. "Come inside and I'll tell you." He walked inside and towards the lit fireplace to sit in his usual spot when she told stories. It didn't feel like this would be a short conversation.

She sat down in her own spot opposite to him as she rubbed her chin.

"Now where do I start?" She looked to the sword that hung over the fireplace. "Back in the days before the Great War, it was very common to have soldiers with unlocked aura. Special units that were trained similarly to how huntsman is today. Your great-great-grandfather and my grandfather was part of a famous unit even. The 1st infantry division or the Knights as they were nicknamed in the War.

"The Knights, how did they get that name?" Didn't they

"When Vale found itself fighting two of the great kingdoms it had to mobilise quickly. The army hadn't been up to date with equipment, which meant that many divisions went towards the frontline with outdated weapons and armour." There was a mix of bitterness and sadness as she spoke." It was a massacre as Atlas had made sure that their side was the best equipped. Half of the 1st division was either killed or crippled in the first battle and Vale had to focus their all on defence until we could catch up."

Jaune had never heard that the first battle went that horrible in school as the teacher had focused more on what happened before and after the war. To think that things were that desperate back then.

"We managed it, in the end, if the fact that we aren't currently pledging our allegiance to Mantle didn't make it obvious. And then... I went off-topic. Your question was why the military doesn't allow soldiers and that is something that happened a few years after the war."

He had almost forgotten that was the original reason he came here and had almost asked her to continue her story. Dad always told stories about their family's exploits but his stories had told him how things were after the war and very little before that.

The clock on the wall told him he didn't have much time left, unfortunately, for that as his family had wanted to start the sleepover as early as possible.

"After a few years when things were finally starting to get back to normal or the new kind of normal that had been decided. The new Council of Vale had been established, Beacon had been opened for new students and the King had gone on a journey to establish similar schools in other countries. A peace that Remnant hadn't felt in a long time." A sigh. "Then someone had to ask the question that broke that peace; Who is to blame for the Great War?"

"Is that a bad thing?"It was only when Garnet looked at him that he realized that he was the one that asked the question.

"It depends."

"Wouldn't it be good to know what caused the War to happen in the first place so that we can prevent it from happening again?"

"Yes, it would. The answer they came to was not something I agree with as they decided it was the military's fault, or to be more precise, the amount of power they had. Many believed that the army should be downsized as there was little chance for conflict and the kingdoms had to focus more on rebuilding than maintaining large armies. It didn't stop there, though, as it was also decided that the use of soldiers with aura would also be banned."

"Banned? Couldn't they still use them against Grimm and what happened to those that did have an aura?" It was hard to understand why they would do that.

"By using huntsmen instead of the army and those with aura where encouraged to become a huntsman or retire. It wasn't the best way to take care of that, but the Council at the time had just been elected and they had a lot of pressure to take care of it as soon as possible. A lot of the money that they saved from downsizing the military went towards Beacon." She chuckled. "It is a little funny, weirdly, that most of the kingdoms made the same decision at roughly the same time for different reasons. Vacuo didn't exactly have a choice as they collapsed, Mistral did it for economic reasons and Mantle had to focus on rebuilding. Atlas cam-"

A large yawn escaped her and interrupted what she was about to say, she looked towards the clock only to widen her eyes. Her reaction prompted him to look at the clock as well only to have a similar reaction.

It was past nine, and the room was a lot darker than when he came in.

"Fudge, I'm late! Thanks for clearing a few things up for me Garnet, I'll come back again before I leave." He stood up and almost tripped as he rushed out the door.

Hopefully, they hadn't waited too long for him.


End file.
